Operating revenue of 23.211 billion yuan! COSCO SHIPPING Specialized Carriers' full-year performance in 2025 is steadily growing | Shipping Industry

According to news from the shipping industry, on March 26, China COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers Co., Ltd. (stock code: 600428, stock abbreviation: COSCO Special) released its annual report for 2025, showing steady growth throughout the year.

According to the announcement, COSCO Special achieved operating revenue of 23.211 billion yuan in 2025, an increase of 38.32% year-on-year; due to factors such as the increase in fleet size and cargo volume leading to higher voyage operating costs, ship depreciation costs, and other costs, operating costs increased by 39.37% year-on-year to 18.280 billion yuan. The total profit reached 2.869 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 45.06%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 1.780 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.29%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was 1.748 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 34.65%; the net cash flow from operating activities was 6.339 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 75.31%.

In recent years, COSCO Special has developed its fleet capacity through various means, including self-built, leased, and joint operations. By optimizing ship design and adjusting fleet structure, COSCO Special has established a specialized fleet that is rationally structured, performs well, and is highly suitable for various cargoes, capable of handling functions such as deep-water installation, lifting, and roll-on/roll-off, suitable for various ordinary general cargo and “non-standard” goods that are oversized, overwidth, overheight, and overweight, fully leveraging the advantages of “multi-purpose” and “multi-ship type” combinations to provide customers with diversified, differentiated, integrated, and customized maritime transport and “end-to-end” solutions.

COSCO Special’s fleet is developing toward larger, greener, and younger vessels, achieving full coverage of the capacity range from 10,000 to 100,000 tons, maintaining a leading position in several niche markets, with its multi-purpose heavy lift fleet, new multi-purpose fleet, and semi-submersible fleet leading globally, its asphalt fleet ranking among the top, and its car carrier fleet accelerating toward the first tier.

It is worth mentioning that by the end of 2025, COSCO Special’s fleet size reached the highest level since its listing, with the asset scale expanding simultaneously, demonstrating strong growth resilience and counter-cyclical capabilities. Throughout the year, a total of 50 new ships were added, and by the end of the year, the controlled capacity scale reached 198 ships and 9.1185 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 48%, more than a 200% increase from the beginning of the “14th Five-Year Plan.”

During the reporting period, COSCO Special upgraded from port and shipping coordination to deeply co-building supply chain nodes, strengthening basic port construction domestically, signing strategic cooperation agreements with several key ports, and initially forming a pulp distribution base centered around Qingdao, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, as well as advanced manufacturing multi-functional export basic ports centered around Taicang and Zhangjiagang; reinforcing regional depth, establishing branches in East China and North China, and enhancing localized services. Overseas, it actively promotes the realization of physical operations for business platforms in Southeast Asia, Europe, North America, and South America, establishing representative offices in emerging markets like Malaysia and Mexico to provide services and support for overseas companies; laying out in Dammam Port, Saudi Arabia, to jointly establish a comprehensive supply chain node, extending services from maritime transportation to port operations, warehousing, inspection, and land distribution for the “last mile,” and promoting the transition from “transporters” to “supply chain partners.”

At the same time, COSCO Special closely grasps China’s largest, most complete, and well-equipped manufacturing system and full industrial chain advantages, focusing on the core customer needs in the new energy industry, China’s advanced manufacturing, and bulk strategic materials, implementing precise marketing for major industry customers, consolidating basic cargo and expanding high-value-added cargo sources, optimizing cargo structure, with advanced manufacturing cargo sources from China, such as finished vehicles, wind power equipment, and engineering equipment accounting for over 40%.

In addition, COSCO Special emphasizes direct customer marketing, centering on customer needs, guided by value co-creation, deeply embedding into the strategic planning of core and key customers, forward-looking layout to match capacity and supporting logistics resources, accurately addressing customer pain points, with the direct customer ratio increasing to 80%, breaking through potential customer cooperation difficulties, enhancing customer stickiness, and solidifying the market foundation and customer support for specialized transportation business.

In terms of route optimization, COSCO Special intensifies the layout of its global route network, focusing on transforming unstable and scattered shipping schedules into predictable scheduled services, converting “non-standard” specialized transportation into standardized services with fixed schedules and routes, having established a scheduled network covering high-growth areas such as Southeast Asia, Northwest Europe, the Persian Gulf, and South America, accurately aligning with project rhythms. In 2025, the company launched six high-quality scheduled routes, such as the East BRICS Express to South America, the West Direct Express to South America, and the Southeast Asia heavy lift scheduled routes, providing customers with stable, reliable, and efficient transportation guarantees.

In terms of digital intelligence, COSCO Special deepens the application of domestic large model technology, independently develops the “Xiao Te” intelligent platform, enhancing the efficiency of intelligent loading, customer service, and risk management; in terms of green low-carbon, the fleet’s application proportion of clean energy is industry-leading, innovatively integrating LNG power, photovoltaic assistance, and shore power systems, achieving a 35% reduction in carbon intensity over the entire lifecycle of vessels, and successfully completing the company’s first compliance with the EU carbon market, receiving the first domestic carbon-neutral certificate for ships.

By the end of 2025, COSCO Special had successfully integrated and put into operation 20 LNG dual-fuel car transport ships, and the construction process of 12 new multi-purpose ships achieved zero carbon emissions, steadily improving the overall green level of the fleet; the company applied “LNG clean energy + the world’s largest shipboard photovoltaic system + intelligent shore power” three-fold green technology to establish a low-carbon operating system covering all voyages, with the ship energy efficiency design index leading the industry.

Looking to the future, COSCO Special aims to “create a benchmark in the global specialized transportation industry, leading the value of the shipping logistics ecosystem,” following the core purpose of the SPECIAL strategy, strengthening mission responsibility, deeply cultivating core responsibilities and businesses, driving systematically through “business breadth + value depth,” and systematically strengthening the “six specialties and six capabilities,” focusing on specialized ship types, special cargo sources, and a fully integrated network, continuously solidifying operational efficiency, market breakthrough ability, and resource synergy, steadily broadening business boundaries; deeply cultivating specialized new technologies, superior products, and distinctive services, comprehensively enhancing technological innovation capability, standard definition capability, and value creation capability, deeply exploring value-added space, and striving to achieve the development pursuit of “everything produced can be transported, and everything transported is optimal,” continuously creating value for shareholders.

Image source: COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers